Alappuzha (Kerala), Sep 26 (IANS) Former Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) veteran Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday dismissed the CMRL-Exalogic monthly payment case involving himself, his daughter Veena Vijayan, and her husband P.A. Mohammed Riyas, describing it as a politically motivated attempt to target him and the CPI(M).
“This father has seen many such attempts,” Vijayan said while addressing an extended district committee meeting of the CPI(M) in Alappuzha, adding that he was unfazed by the developments and had faced similar attacks throughout his political career.
He maintained that Exalogic had received payments for services rendered and alleged that the RSS and BJP were behind the move. He further accused the Congress of joining hands with the BJP in an effort to politically corner the CPI(M).
“The case against Veena was raised in the manner of saying, ‘we are not looking at you, we are looking at your father’,” Vijayan said.
He described the Exalogic case as part of a move against the LDF and said the action against him and his daughter amounted to political retaliation.
The Alappuzha meeting is the first of a series of extended district committee meetings being held across Kerala following the three-day extended state committee meeting held in Kozhikode earlier this month.
The CPI(M) has decided to hold meetings on the same lines in all 14 districts to take the discussions and decisions of the state-level meeting to the district organisation.
Vijayan also launched a strong attack on the Election Commission, saying its credibility had suffered. “The Election Commission is being questioned in a manner that has never happened before. The information that has come out is not good for democracy,” he said.
He alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner was turning his own views into decisions and adopting unilateral positions. He said protests against such actions would intensify.
Vijayan also criticised the census procedures, alleging that they posed a threat to privacy. States that had implemented population-control measures should not suffer losses during delimitation of constituencies, he said.
–IANS
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